Chapter 170: Cliché
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 170: Cliché
"You're the first person to ever treat me this way, Miss Saionji."
Fujiwara Sai was what the world would call an alpha male.
Handsome, top of his class, and exceptionally athletic.
He was a perfect superhuman who had it all—the complete trinity.
Naturally, from a young age, women had always flocked to the brilliant young man.
However, most of those women were drawn to his looks and the immense power of the Fujiwara family name. Few had ever approached him with a genuine desire to get to know him.
That's why this was so refreshing.
The Saionji and the Fujiwara.
Despite the two families, who had been at odds for so long, finally making a gesture of reconciliation, the girl before him was pushing him away for personal reasons.
It was something unheard of in the world of prominent families.
"Lady Saionji, are you the type to act without any thought for the consequences?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"To be honest, I have no intention of proposing marriage or an engagement on our first meeting. However, there is no denying that this meeting holds great significance for both our families. And right now, you are trying to ruin it."
As he explained calmly without a hint of anger, Kumiko's expression softened, and she finally apologized.
"...I'm sorry for my rude behavior."
"It's quite all right. I'm not so petty as to get my feelings hurt over something like this."
Fujiwara Sai smiled gently, then picked up the utensils he had set down on the table.
"Since this is our first time meeting, I believe we'll need some time to get to know each other. So for today, let's just focus on enjoying this delicious meal. It would be a shame to let such a well-prepared feast go cold, wouldn't it?"
"...I understand."
As Kumiko resumed her meal at his suggestion, Fujiwara Sai only pretended to eat, stealing glances at her beautiful face.
'What an interesting girl.'
He hadn't had high expectations when his family elders had pushed him into this meeting, but he was pleasantly surprised.
It was rare to find someone with such an upright character, despite having grown up in such a privileged environment.
She wasn't vain like his older brother, nor was she timid like his younger one.
In fact, the way she boldly stated her intentions was so commanding, it wouldn't be strange to call her a warrior woman, like the great general of the Sengoku period, Tachibana Ginchiyo.
'I might just be getting serious about this.'
With that thought, Fujiwara Sai placed a small piece of steak in his mouth.
*
Hattori Hanzo, Fujiwara Sai's bodyguard and the 13th head of the Iga clan—a ninja lineage dating back to before the Sengoku period—was the first to acknowledge a familiar face he hadn't seen in a long time.
"It's been a while, Izumo. You've gotten old."
Koga Izumo replied with a smiling face laced with venom.
"You sure run your mouth freely, Hanzo. Should I sew that useless mouth of yours shut?"
"What nonsense."
Despite having touched upon the ultimate taboo of a woman's age, Hanzo just scoffed and got straight to the point.
"I heard a rumor that Fuma Kotaro's successor has appeared."
"You're late to the news. I've already met him in person."
"This guy with the moniker 'Vajra Yaksha'—is he strong?"
Izumo shrugged in response to his question.
"I haven't seen him fight myself, but he's the man who defeated Ivan, the God of Destruction. Even if he was past his prime, Ivan was once the man closest to being the strongest in the world. Honestly, I think that fact alone proves his strength, don't you?"
"So what? Ivan lost his final fight against Kotaro, didn't he? If that guy could do it, then so can I, his rival."
Hearing this, Izumo sighed and shook her head.
"Hanzo, this is why you're always called the perennial number two. Anyone who heard you would think you could actually win."
"Had I been given the chance to fight, I certainly would have. But I refuse to partake in a clown show like the GOF."
After his confident declaration, Hattori Hanzo returned to the original topic.
"So, how is this Vajra Yaksha being taught Fuma Kotaro's techniques? The man himself has been missing for ten years."
"It seems a secret manual was left behind in the village. Even for a one-line transmission assassination art, they must have wanted to prevent it from being lost to an unfortunate accident."
"Then this generation's successor, the Vajra Yaksha, is nothing more than a half-baked imitation."
For once, Izumo agreed with him.
"I suppose so. There's a limit to the knowledge one can gain from a book."
"Vajra Yaksha, Vajra Yaksha... what a ridiculously grand name. To give the moniker of a Guardian King (Nio) to a kid who's not even twenty yet."
Stroking his chin, Hanzo was lost in thought for a moment before muttering in a serious voice.
"It's about time I sorted out the hierarchy."
"Are you planning to start a war between our villages?"
"There's nothing I wouldn't do to prove that our clan is the strongest."
"Hah, this is the problem with men. Always risking their lives over such pointless things."
And so, unbeknownst to Kim Yoo-Sung, a new plot was brewing.
*
Saturday morning.
Normally, I would have been in the middle of a workout, but right now, I had lost all motivation and was lying flat on my bedroom floor.
Forgetting my worries by pushing my body to its limits only works for a moment.
The second I let my guard down, the events of yesterday would flood my mind, and I felt like I was going crazy.
'What the hell do I even want?'
This wasn't about my future aspirations.
It was simply about the President.
I was the one who had thrown away the chance I was given.
To be more precise, I had postponed my answer to her confession until next spring, but I knew it was a cowardly move.
I was using the President's affection as collateral, preparing for some unknown incident that might occur.
In my second year, when the original story was set to begin with the protagonist, Ryuji, and I in the same class, a lot of girls had started to take an interest in me.
Heroines who, if this world had followed its original course, would have been interested in Ryuji, not me.
Rika, Karen, Sasha.
In that sense, the President was the first person to like me for who I was, completely unrelated to the original story.
After all, we met in our first year, before the story even began.
Knowing that, I must have subconsciously cared for her the most.
To put our current relationship simply, we were more than friends, less than lovers.
We had feelings for each other, but we hadn't progressed to being a couple.
Which meant that since we were nothing to each other, I had no right to stop the President from going to an arranged marriage meeting.
'Should I have just acted crazy and crashed the meeting?'
I understood, logically, that it was too late for regrets and that it was useless to dwell on the past.
But at times like this, I couldn't help but resent my own cautious nature.
If I had just followed her and made a scene, at least my heart would be at ease.
"Haaah..."
As I let out a deep sigh and stared blankly at the ceiling, my phone rang.
~♪
I picked up the phone from the floor and checked the caller ID. It was the Vice President.
I shot up from my spot on the floor.
"Vice President? What's up?"
[Kim Yoo-Sung, you got time for lunch today? There's something I want to talk to you about.]
"Ah, yes. Of course. Where should we meet?"
[Come to the PC café in Shinjuku by 2 PM. The rooms there are well soundproofed, so it's perfect for a private conversation.]
"Got it."
I jotted down the address of the PC café he mentioned in my notes.
Then, just before hanging up, I asked, just in case.
"How is the President?"
There was a brief silence on the other end of the line.
Then, the Vice President finally answered.
[The young lady isn't so weak that she needs you to worry about her.]
Though he usually acts like a fool, his words carried a strange sense of conviction, as he becomes extremely competent when it comes to matters concerning the President.
[I'm hanging up now. Don't be late.]
"Yes."
The call with the ever-blunt Vice President ended. I, who had been lying on the floor without a shred of motivation just moments before, glanced up at the clock.
12:30 PM.
If I wanted to arrive by the appointed time of 2 PM, it was going to be a tight schedule.
*
Unlike the PC bangs in Korea, Japan's PC cafés are designed as very private spaces.
In a cramped room barely big enough to lie down in, you could not only use a high-performance computer but also get cheap food and lodging.
Visiting a PC café for the first time, I was momentarily overwhelmed by the sheer size of the menu.
But that didn't last long. One of the many doors in the hallway opened, and a familiar face popped out from within.
"Kim Yoo-Sung!"
"Vice President!"
Looking like a regular at this place, the Vice President walked out in a very comfortable outfit of a tracksuit and slippers. After telling the owner at the counter that we'd just be talking for a bit and asking him to cut us some slack, he pulled me into his room.
The room was clearly no more than ten square meters.
In an environment that felt like a single room in a goshiwon [a type of cheap, single-room housing in Korea], the Vice President handed me a cushion for myself, crossed his arms, and began.
"There's one reason I called you here today."
"And that is?"
He didn't answer right away. After a long pause, the Vice President looked at me with a serious expression and said:
"The young lady is getting engaged next month."